1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to pillar structures which support a roof panel of a vehicle body.
2. Related Art
A conventional pillar structure for a vehicle includes a windshield disposed on the front side of a vehicle, front doors disposed on both widthwise sides of the vehicle body, a front pillar disposed between the windshield and each front door, and a pillar outer cover disposed on the outer surface of each front pillar. A step is formed between the windshield and each pillar outer cover (for instance, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-5939). With this pillar structure, when a vehicle is running in the rain, rain water which flows over the front surface of the windshield outwardly in the width direction is caused to flow along the step between the windshield and each pillar outer cover, whereby the flow of rain water to the glass of each front door is regulated, and the field of view in the lateral direction is secured when the vehicle is running in the rain.
With the above-mentioned pillar structure, the flow of air becomes turbulent due to the step between the windshield and each pillar outer cover when the vehicle is running, and thus air resistance may increase. In addition, when snow adhering to the windshield is wiped away by a wiper when the vehicle is running in the snowfall, the snow wiped away by the wiper is deposited on the step between the windshield and each pillar outer cover, and thus necessary field of view may not be assured. Furthermore, with the pillar structure, the step between the windshield and each pillar outer cover may decrease the appearance of the vehicle design.